EARLY YEARS FRAMEWORK –CREATING COMMUNITIES THAT PROVIDE A SUPPORTIVE ENVIRONMENT FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

Whydo we need supportive communities?

1.Ministers and COSLA decided to include this theme in the early years framework for a number of reasons. Local circumstances have been shown to exert a strong influence on outcomes such as educational attainment and participation. Children’s lives need to be understood in their neighbourhood as well as family context. Inthe context of this report it is important to emphasise that problems are not the sole preserve of ‘deprived’ communities and that each community will be starting from different points in terms of their capacity for empowerment and engagement. There is also a difference between urban and rural communities and between city communities and small town communities.

2.Having said that, the group have suggested a number of characteristics to be aimed at in developing communities that provide a supportive environment for children and families. In supportive communities:

  • Children, parenting and families are considered a positive asset and not a problem to be tackled. This is reflected in an acceptance by the whole community of the importance of play and its benefits.
  • Alongside this, parents are encouraged to take an appropriate degree of responsibility for their children.
  • Services focus on empowering communities and communities are challenged to take responsibility for their own outcomes. Volunteering is encouraged.
  • Services are provided universally but those who work in these services are given the training and support to identify those children and families who need extra support and are able to respond flexibly to them. It is also recognised that in a small but significant number of cases more considerable intervention will be needed.

Where we are now

3.In terms of where we are now, the group is struck by the mood of optimism and openness to change that currently prevails in Scotland. The early years framework must catch this wave and capitalise on it. The new Single Outcome Agreements and community planning process will be a significant spur to partnership working, which will be key to developing supportive communities. Alongside this is the challenge of resources, which will be addressed later in this paper. However, we cannot overlook the fact that ‘where we are now’ includes the fact that it is unlikely that significant sums of new money will be available for investment in the new early years framework.

4.In terms of the research that was provided for the group, the key findings were:

  • Experiences and outcomes differ across communities in Scotland, between deprived areas and the rest of Scotland and between urban and rural areas. While this could be seen as stating the obvious, it is also important that we do not overlook this fact and that we recognise that every community is different and will have different needs. The group were keen to emphasise that an important part of building the capacity of communities is to allow them to determine their own aspirations and not to impose our aspirations on them.
  • The majority of people from all backgrounds are positive about the communities where they live.
  • Improvement in facilities and activities for children are seen as important by approximately one fifth of parents.
  • Education is particularly concerned with place and communities with schools more than most other public services embedded within neighbourhoods.
  • Play is recognised as an important part of a child’s development and the Scottish Government has a manifesto commitment to play. However, the evidence suggests that outdoor play is declining amongst young children. Around 150 000 children in Scotland (1 in 6) do not have access to a safe outdoor space for play. This disproportionally affects children from more impoverished backgrounds. Play spaces are being reduced and sold off and the views of children are not taken into account in the planning process. The group feels there are a number of challenges with regard to play: intolerance amongst communities of children congregating in groups; fear on the part of parents that harm will come to their child.
  • The OECD has identified that whilst Scottish children to a considerable extent achieve at a high level in the context of European countries, the gap between the highest achievers and the lowest achievers is amongst the widest gaps in Europe. This demonstrates the need for sustainable measures that can deliver outcomes for children and families in terms of capacity building.
  • We are not starting from a zero base. There is a range of good practice available and the HMIE report made available to the groups highlights some of it. In addition there are a number of Scottish Government policy initiatives that have clear links to the work of this task group: Equally Well – the report of the health inequalities task force; The Road to Recovery: a New Approach to Tackling Scotland's Drug Problem; Changing Scotland’s Relationship with Alcohol; the Community Empowerment Action Plan; the Antisocial Behaviour Review; Domestic Abuse Delivery Plan for Children and Young People.

Where we want to get to, [identifying whether each target should be short, medium or long term];

5.Identifying the specific measures that would improve the physical and social environment for young children, including arts, culture and creativity and a strategic approach to play

  • We want to achieve a child friendly Scotland committed to fully respecting UNCRC, in particular Article 31, which encapsulates the right of the child to participate freely in cultural life and the arts. Arts, culture and creativity can all be delivered through play. The group acknowledges that it has not been able to cover the arts, culture and creativity aspect of the allocated task as thoroughly as it would have liked to.

6.Identifying measures to encourage more mutual support between parents and from others in the community in order to build the capacity of families.

  • The overarching principle must be that communities should be empowered and built up, by practitioners working ‘with’ people where they are, both literally and metaphorically, as distinct from delivering services ‘to’ them. We recognise that skills found in community development and community learning have been diminishing in recent years and we want to see this trend reversed.
  • We want to create an environment that enables families and children to make positive choices and to address issues that mitigate against that. The most obvious and fundamental of these is addressing the issue of poverty.
  • Communities should be challenged to take more responsibility to sort things out for themselves, in order to build capacity and self determination.

7.Increasing the contribution of adult services to supporting families, especially those with young children.:

  • Services to adults such as those to substance misusing adults, mental health services or housing have a direct impact on children’s lives. These services are now increasingly likely to take account of the children affected, but there appears to be a significant variation across services.
  • We want to see quicker, better targeted referral by adult services to relevant children’s services where risks to children’s wellbeing are identified.
  • There should be an emphasis in the provision of good quality services to all parents and children. Within universal services we want to see targeting of services to vulnerable children and early identification to enable early intervention. There is a vital role for primary care, particularly general practitioners and health visitors, in this, in that these are the only services that consistently come into contact with children 0-3 and their families.
  • We need to see improved substance misuse services in line with the new national drugs strategy and, on alcohol misuse, a clear understanding among all adults that alcohol and pregnancy do not mix.

What we need to do to get there and how we need to do it

8.Firstly, we need to identify what works and build on that. Findings from the 2006 Scottish Social Attitudes Survey found that most people feel they have a reasonable degree of social support and ‘connectedness’ within their own communities. The evidence paper given to the group provides evidence of perceived successes in addressing community barriers. These include

  • Active Schools. The evaluation of the programme identified a number of key themes of particular importance, including the importance of establishing community links.
  • Better Play Programme. An evaluation found that these projects provided children with a real alternative to playing on the streets and increased children’s chances to experience a range of new play opportunities.
  • Home Zones. A home zone is a group of residential streets designed so that the street space is available for social uses such as children’s play, while car access is also allowed. Evaluations found that traffic speeds and volumes had gone down and residents tended to welcome the changes and feel the schemes had made their streets more attractive and safer.
  • Neighbourhood Play Toolkit. An evaluation of this project found that it became a tool for building social capital and for enriching the lives of all those who took part and were impacted by the project and its outcomes. Participation in this project was found to bring real and positive changes to the neighbourhoods.

9.We want to promote a cultural shift in public attitudes to parenting and to children. Whilst this would seem to fall more naturally within the remit of the task group on building parenting and family capacity, it is also a key part of this task group’s findings on creating supportive communities.

10.In the context of improving the physical and social environment we need to

  • Ensure that parents, communities and professionals recognise the value and long term benefits of play.
  • Acknowledge that this is not the sole responsibility of national or local government. Parents have a key role to play, particularly with regard to the issue of overprotected children.
  • Tackle planning issues. Housing developments should be given planning permission with the assumption that space for play will be included in the development. This again will require community engagement skills, including valid engagement with children themselves.
  • Promote how critical play and the arts are for children’s development, not just in terms of physical health but also in terms of developing resilience and mental well being.
  • In terms of play, we need to recognise children’s own aspirations for play, not what adults think they should be doing. Also recognise that play takes many forms, not just play parks e.g. the role of hospital play specialists in therapeutic and holistic care.
  • Learn from the National Assembly of Wales, which developed and monitored a play based curriculum to ensure that play was taken into account by all Government Departments.

11.Within the context of mutual support amongst communities in order to build the capacity of families, we need to

  • Reverse the neglect of community development and community learning and consider whether there is a need for a new sort of professional to work across health, education and social work boundaries
  • Recognise the differing needs of differing communities, particularly around the delivery of services
  • Work towards developing a society and communities that value and promote the family as an entity and appreciate and support children.
  • Talk up the value of neighbours and communities as a resource for families.
  • Challenge communities to take more responsibility for themselves and thereby gain in confidence.
  • Challenge officials and others with the fact that the delivery of better outcomes for children and families is their day job and that the value of anything that does not contribute to that overall aim should be questioned.
  • Match the focus that there has been on physical regeneration of communities with an equal focus on social regeneration. This could include issues such as credit unions or the provision of advice on personal debt; family learning (including literacy and numeracy); volunteering.

12.Within the context of adult services, we need to

  • Strengthen the role of practitioners in adult services who see children affected by their parents’ substance misuse.
  • Encourage information sharing between adult services and relevant children’s services, not just automatic referral to the Reporter.
  • Use multi agency training and tools already in existence or being developed, such as the e-care framework for information sharing and the shared approach to assessment of risks and needs being developed under Getting it Right for Every Child.
  • Strengthen the roles of Community Health Partnerships to improve the way they engage with children and young people and include their views in the design and delivery of health services.
  • Encourage co-location of services in some instances, but recognise that co-location is not a panacea.

Who needs to do what to ensure delivery;

13.National government needs to

In the short term

  • Deliver a strong statement with COSLA on how councils and community planning partners value early years and early intervention and how this is reflected in Single Outcome Agreements (SOAs).
  • Send a clear message that all partners must play fair in relation to the funding of responses to shared responsibilities.
  • Promote good practice in the area of early years/early intervention. Have a lead role across government to champion the early years/early intervention approach and ensure a fit with other policies being developed elsewhere within the Scottish Government. Continue the collaborative working that this process has started.
  • Look at the National Assembly of Wales experience in the arena of play (see para 10)

In the medium term

  • (with COSLA and community planning partners) embed community capacity building into the planning processes around SOAs
  • Recognise that this process needs to be about what we don’t do, as well as what we do, and what that might imply in terms of media coverage/local challenges.(also all other stakeholders)
  • Rehearse the benefits of play to parents and planning partners. Make clear the benefits that accrue across a wide range of areas including building resilience and mental well being.(also all other stakeholders)
  • Continue to develop, evaluate and roll out the Getting it Right for Every Child programme, including encouraging the sharing of information by relevant services.

In the long term

  • Because of the long term nature of the early years framework, build cross party support for the approach and recommendations.
  • Aim high and set a clear vision for communities and children, but encouraging everyone to see where they fit into the fulfilment of that vision. There is a need for more radical approaches to how we support families and build capacity in communities if we are serious about achieving lasting changes.
  • Recognise that early intervention is a slow burn process and that the political wins will not happen overnight.(also all other stakeholders)
  • Look at the issue of advertising and marketing to children.
  • Work to change people’s attitudes to alcohol and drugs.(also all other stakeholders)
  • Review the effect the vetting and barring system is having on volunteering.
  • Encourage sensible, managed, appropriate risk taking (also all other stakeholders)
  • Value the contribution made by parents who choose to stay at home to look after their children. (With the UK government) Ensure that they have the opportunity to make a real choice e.g. with regard to pensions.
  • Ensure that regeneration policies always include within them social as well as physical regeneration.

14.Local government

In the short term

  • Ensure that the community planning process takes place right down at local level, perhaps using the balanced scorecard approach set out below.

In the medium term

  • Develop community capacity by allowing local communities to develop their local aspirations, take the responsibility, with the support of public services of taking these forward, and assess how they are progressing. Emphasise doing ‘with’ people rather than ‘to’ or ‘for’ people. The group suggests a balanced scorecard approach covering children’s experiences; community perspectives; learning and development; service provider views could be used to assess that progress.
  • Give communities the opportunity to look afresh at how to improve early years outcomes in the way that the task groups have done, engaging them directly in how the framework is developed and delivered.
  • Give clear and public support to front line workers who are seeking to move to a greater emphasis on prevention, early intervention and building community and family capacity. Ensure that all are clear that the delivery of better outcomes for children and families is the day job for all, not just those who are engaged in education or social work. This ties in with the approach being taken in the context of corporate parenting.
  • Tackle planning issues with regard to play.

15.Other stakeholders- NHS Scotland, voluntary sector, communities themselves